NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Awarded to 10 College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Students

Ten current students and recent alumni of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, which recognize outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

Twenty-four UMD students were among the 2,000 fellowship winners announced by NSF. Of those, 10 hailed from CMNS, including four current graduate students, four current undergraduate students and two alumni who received bachelor’s degrees in CMNS majors.

“Our graduate and undergraduate students have once again shown their excellence, with 10 students selected for this year’s prestigious NSF graduate research fellowship awards,” said CMNS Dean Jayanth Banavar. “We are very proud of their achievements and look forward to watching their careers develop.”

Elizabeth Spencer (B.S. ’15, mathematics with a minor in physics and an additional major in French language and literature), graduate institution: Boston University

NSF fellows receive three years of support from the agency, including a $34,000 annual stipend, a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the institution, international research and professional development opportunities, and access to a supercomputer.

The NSF received more than 13,000 applications for the 2017 competition and made 2,000 fellowship award offers. The students awarded graduate research fellowships are a diverse group of individuals. Among the awardees, 1,158 are women, 498 are from underrepresented minority groups, 75 are persons with disabilities and 26 are veterans.

"This unique program has nurtured economic innovation and leadership in the U.S. continuously since 1952—by recruiting and supporting outstanding students with high potential in science, technology, engineering and mathematics very early in their graduate training," said Jim Lewis, NSF acting assistant director for Education and Human Resources. "These talented individuals have gone on to make important discoveries, win Nobel Prizes, train many generations of American scientists and engineers and create inventions that improve our lives."

About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural SciencesThe College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 7,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $150 million.